Identification technology has been an area of widespread interest and development for many years. One of the main reasons for the continued interest in identification technology is the incidence of fraud largely attributable to transactions which have been carried out in a non-secure manner. The need for more secure systems of transactions is apparent.
Common methods of identification rely on the use of readable tags. Such tags utilize identification features such as serial numbers, holograms, barcodes, magnetic stripes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for purposes of identification. A manufacturer of goods or articles of commercial value can purchase these tags and apply them to the products before selling and distributing the items.
Besides the above-mentioned identification features, “inherent disorder” based identification features have also been used either alone or in combination with other identification features to uniquely identify objects and to provide evidence of the authenticity of objects for anti-counterfeiting purposes. An “inherent disorder” based feature is a feature based on a disordered material, wherein the structure of the disorder is used to identify the object. Due to the “randomness” of the disorder, it is extremely difficult, if not, impossible to replicate the features of the disordered material. As such, a unique fingerprint or signature can be obtained using the disordered material. The disordered material may be a part of the object itself, or may be part of a tag that is affixed to the object. Further, the disordered material may be a coating, composite or structure.
There are numerous previously known examples of the use of inherent disorder for identification and authentication purposes. For example, Ingenia Technology Limited, of London, UK, has described a system that uses the inherent disorder of fibers within paper, mapped using laser-speckle interferometry, to identify the paper. A more complete description of this technology can be found in PCT application WO 2006/016114.
Another previously known use of inherent disorder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,380,128, assigned to Novatec, SA, of Montauben, France. This patent shows use of random bubbles within a transparent polymer for identification and authentication. Optical methods are used to read the three-dimensional layout of the bubbles within the polymer. This information can be used to provide a unique signature for a “bubble tag”.
Other inherent disorder-based identification and authentication technologies include use of randomly distributed quantum dots or nanobarcodes, use of ink containing magnetic particles arranged in a disordered pattern, use of random “jitter” in the magnetic stripes of credit cards, and use of random distribution of taggant particles that are invisible to human vision on an article (see PCT application WO 2005/104008).
Additional inherent disorder-based tags that use a combination of magnetic and/or magnetisable and/or conductive and/or semi-conductive and/or optically active particles and/or optically distinguishable particles have been reported by the present applicant, Bilcare Technologies. These technologies are further detailed in PCT applications WO 2005/008294, WO 2006/078220 or the commonly owned PCT applications WO 2007/133164, WO 2007/133163, and WO 2009/105040, for example.
Various signal detection systems, usually based on optical, magnetic and magneto-optical effects, are used to read these inherent disorder features. Once read, information on the inherent disorder features corresponding to the “fingerprint” or signature of the object can be processed either in the reading unit itself or in a back-end computer system to use the information for identification and/or authentication purposes.
In the field of anti-counterfeiting and authentication technology, it is advantageous to use combinations of technologies for enhanced protection. For example, inherent disorder features may be used in combination with other identification or authentication features, such as barcodes, magnetic strips, RFID, optical characters, or even logos of the manufacturer. Depending on the application area, such as the type of goods and desired security level, different anti-counterfeiting and authentication technologies can be combined in different ways to suit the needs of individuals.
It is therefore advantageous for the manufacturer of an item of value to be able to form and read an identification feature on or in an object, which can be customized easily according to the requirements of the end user.